


Fates and Worlds Away

by alphayamergo



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, I Will Fix OUAT Canon If It Kills Me, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 10:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12746595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphayamergo/pseuds/alphayamergo
Summary: Zelena succeeds in changing the timeline, and there's a whole new Storybrooke. Emma finds herself caught between two timelines - and, unfortunately for her new family, she's not the only one.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So uploading this to AO3 is my attempt to guilt myself into finishing it.
> 
> You might have seen this before on tumblr: this first chapter was uploaded literally years ago to the Gremma Appreciation blog, and the second part was on my blog about a month ago. If there's a noticable jump in writing quality, that's why. All of the content warnings are references to Regina's actions in canon.
> 
> (Note: I picked No Archive Warnings Apply because no actual rape/non-con occurs in this fic. If you think the reference is enough, let me know and I'll put the archive warning on.)

He shouldn’t be alive.

Emma keeps sneaking glances at him. Graham hasn’t noticed yet, too deep in paperwork to notice anything really, but she knows it’s only a matter of time. She can’t stop looking at him, not now that she knows the truth about their reality. The truth that none of it was real; that everything had been rewritten to fit the Wicked Witch of West into the timeline rather than Regina. He looks just as she remembers – curly brown hair, short brown hair growing around his chin. He shaved recently, so it is a little shorter that she recalls. He still makes corny jokes and banters with her, still bribes her with donuts and other sweets. But he is also different – they aren’t co-workers, friends with romantic undertones any more. They’re engaged, their wedding just over a month away, and so they both behave appropriately.

She knows that as the Savior, she is supposed to change it back at some point, but it’s so  _hard_  when Graham is sitting in the station with her, head bent over paperwork, slight frown lines etched into his forehead as he worked through them.

Anxiously, she starts twisting the ring that now rests on her finger. She closes her eyes, letting the memory of his proposal wash over her. He’d been so nervous, like he expected her to say no, despite the True Love they shared. ‘ _It wasn’t real,_ ’ she thinks. ‘ _All of this was engineered by Zelena because of her jealousy. It’s not real._ ’

Her heart isn’t convinced.

“Hey,” says Graham quietly. Emma opens her eyes, trying to smile at her fiancée affectionately. Graham’s eyes are concerned as he looks at her, letting her know she failed, but he doesn’t comment. Instead, he says, “I can finish this all tomorrow. Do you want to go to Granny’s?”

 _Granny’s._  Her parents will be there, probably, and Emma would love to be able to talk to Mary Margaret about this. But there’s also the possibility of Hook being there, or even Neal in this timeline, and Graham is more than enough to deal with without them. Not to mention one or both of them might have figured out about the timeline as well and remembered, and she does  _not_  want Graham to witness any declarations of love she might receive.

“No,” she says. “Let’s have a night in. Henry can stay with my parents tonight.” Graham nods, a slow smile spreading over his face. She stands, grabs her jacket and is about to walk out of the station when she feels his arms encircle her. She turns and smiles at him, and he begins to lean in. It’s the first time he’s kissed her since she remembered the real timeline and for a second all she can think of is  _Graham lurching forwards, collapsing on to the ground, her sobbing his name and trying to wake him_  – and then his lips are on hers and he feels warm and real. It’s slow and sweet and a little bit of  _something_  bubbles up inside her. She smiles against his lips as she slips her arms around his neck. It’s over all too soon when he pulls away abruptly. He grins down at her mischievously and takes her hand to pull her out of the station.  _‘Cheeky bastard_ ,’ she thinks, and follows.

They end up stopping by Granny’s, anyway – Graham decides they need bearclaws and the ones at Granny’s diner are the best in Storybrooke. Emma doesn’t go inside, too terrified to see someone who knows about the timeline and knows how selfish she is being, and Graham has to go alone. She keeps her hold on his hand tight for a moment after he starts to get up, but eventually she has to let him go.

‘”He’ll come back,” she whispers as he walks away. Her eyes follow him until he enters the diner. She slumps, burying her head in her hands.

Graham’s supposed to be dead. Every time she looks at him, she sees his body lying on the cold floor of the sheriff’s station. How is she supposed to be the Savior and change it all back when she knows that she is condemning Graham to death?

Regina might have changed in their timeline, but at the height of her villainy, Regina was far worse than Zelena had ever been. Was changing the timeline back, even for Henry’s sake, really worth it when it meant so many people would die? (Have already died, have always been dead – stupid time travel.)

Henry is the only reason to want to go back. Henry loves Regina. She’s not sure if Henry will fully understand the concept of the needs of many outweighing the needs of few – it’s very probable that Henry will insist on finding a way to save everybody, but unfortunately such a solution doesn’t exist. But Zelena was Henry’s adoptive mother in this world, and surely he would be devastated to lose her, as well.

“What am I supposed to do?” Her voice is almost inaudible, but seems loud in the cold silence of the car.

There’s a tapping on the car window, and she looks up to see Hook banging his hook against the glass. She rolls down the window and bites out, “What?”

“Swan,” he says, and his tone is urgent. “Swan, you need to listen to me. Zelena – she did something, she rewrote time, it’s not supposed to be like this -”

“I  _know_ , Hook,” she sighs.

Hook’s eyes widen and he straightens slightly. “We need to do something,” he says quickly. “We have to find a way to undo what she did.”

The bell to Granny’s door is ringing, and she glances over at Graham coming out the door. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Hook.” She’s grateful for the excuse to dismiss Hook, because she’s not entirely sure how to explain her doubts about returning to the original timeline. How was she supposed to tell Hook that Emma thought Zelena was a preferable Evil Queen to the one she’d usurped? That Regina wasn’t worth the lives she took? That Regina wasn’t worth  _Graham?_

“But -”

“Graham’s coming, and I don’t want him knowing at the moment,” says Emma. “We can decide what to do later.”

Graham reaches the car and he nods at the pirate. “Hook.”

“Sheriff,” says Hook, his voice slightly hostile. She rolls her eyes at him, because is this really the time for Hook to be jealous?

Graham slides into the car as Hook walks away. “What did he want?” asks Graham.

Emma shakes her head. “It was nothing.” She hesitates and takes his hand. “I just –I love you, okay?”

Graham’s expression softens. He reaches out and places his free hand on her cheek. “I love you, too,” he says in a voice that warms Emma to her core. She leans over and presses her lips to his in a soft kiss that reminds Emma of everything she has ever loved about Graham, in either reality.

“Let’s go home,” she says. Graham smiles at her and Emma  _knows_  – Regina is not worth it, not when there are so many people being made happier by her exile to Oz, Emma just one among them.


	2. Chapter 2

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

Emma startles, knocking paperwork flying. She looks up at Hook, who drops into the seat on the opposite side of her desk, looking at her expectantly.

“I haven’t been avoiding you,” she denies instinctively. She still doesn’t know how to explain to Hook – how to explain to anyone – her decision. It would be so easy for someone to dismiss her as a lovesick girl avoiding her responsibilities as Savior for a man. And Graham is a part of her decision, yes – but so is everyone else who survived to the new timeline. So is Joanna, who takes care of baby Neal and helped to raise Snow. So are dozens of others who Emma doesn’t know quite so well, who survived Zelena but didn’t survive Regina.

Hook raises his eyebrow. “Is it because I know about what Zelena did, and no one else does?”

“No one?” double-checks Emma. She hasn’t _noticed_ anyone else acting odd, but who knows? She’s had a lot on her plate lately.

“No one,” confirms Hook. “As far as I know, at least. But surely they would have approached you or the sheriff by now if there was anyone.” Emma feels herself slump with relief. No one else knows. No one else to pressure her to change the timeline back, no one else to try to change it without her.

Hook’s still looking at her, expression calculating. She stares back at him evenly. She’s made her decision. He won’t sway her from it.

“I can understand it,” he says at last. “If there was any way I could have Milah back with me, I would take it without a second thought.”

“It isn’t _just_ Graham,” she says firmly. “There are dozens of reasons. Dozens of people.”

Hook nods. “Aye, I can see that, too. But not everyone might see it that way.”

The door to the station opens and Emma glances up. It’s Graham, box of doughnuts in his hands and keys dangling from his fingers. He looks a little surprised at the sight of Hook, but doesn’t comment on it as he drops the box on to Emma’s desk and kisses her forehead quickly.

“As I was saying,” says Hook, loudly. Emma rolls her eyes at him. Apparently understanding doesn’t mean the jealousy has dissipated. “I heard from the Merry Men that there was a portal out in the woods. There might be some unpleasant visitors soon.” He’s been looking between Emma and Graham as he spoke, but now he looks directly at Emma. “Looks like the happy ending is over.”

Emma feels her heart constrict a little. It could be anyone. It could be any storybook villain. Hell, it could even be someone she had never heard of before. Surely there was _somewhere_ in the multiverse that hadn’t become a story in this world.

But she can’t shake the horrible feeling that the portal was from Oz.

And, well. With Zelena happily installed as Evil Queen of the Enchanted Forest, there was only one person who could be coming from Oz.

-

“See anything?” asks Graham. He has both hands on his gun, scanning the forest surrounding them.

“Nope,” she calls back. “David?”

David jogs over, shaking his head. “Whoever it was, they’ve covered their tracks. We’re lucky that Tuck saw the portal open, or we probably would never have known.”

“They’re probably familiar with travelling in the woods, then,” notes Graham. “They could still be hiding out here now for all we know.”

“Or they could have used magic to conceal their path,” suggests Emma. She wants Graham to be right. She really wants Graham to be right. But she had to be prepared for the possibility that Regina has returned to Storybrooke.

It makes sense. She can definitely see Zelena, petty and vindictive as she is, leaving Regina with full memory of the original timeline so that Regina knows exactly what she is missing out on. But Regina survived as long as she did for a reason. She always manages to wriggle out of seemingly impossible scenarios, be it through a daring rescue by one of her allies, her own magical power, or using someone’s goodness against them.

She wants Regina as far away from Graham as possible. She wants Regina as far away from _Henry_ as possible. She wants her entire family to be safe from Regina and all the horrors that Regina once put them through. She wants both Evil Queens gone.

“If they’re capable of using portals, then the chances are they’re also capable of wielding magic,” agrees Graham.

“ _If_ they’re the one to create the portal,” points out David. “They could have paid someone off. We just don’t know.”

David’s right. They don’t know. Emma has absolutely no idea who came through that portal, just a terrible sinking feeling that it’s Regina.

“Are you okay?” asks Graham, putting a hand on her arm. David shifts to look at her, expression concerned.

Emma forces a smile. “Peachy.”

-

Graham’s still worried at dinner time. Henry is, too. Henry had taken one glance at her, and then exchanged a very long look with Graham, before he had started chattering happily away at a mile a minute. Graham contributed, too, after spending almost the entire day together, he didn’t have so many stories to contribute.

Her boys almost succeeded. Emma felt lighter than she had all day, but sometimes as she looked at them both, she couldn’t help the stray thought: _I could lose this_.

Emma can deal with Zelena. She had been able to deal with Regina. But she had never confronted either of them at the height of their villainy, and based off what she knows about why Regina turned on Snow – well, Regina is not going to react well to Emma choosing Graham and the others over her.

“Dishes?” says Graham, looking at Henry. The two stand with a clatter, and Henry steals Emma’s plate before she can do the same.

“We’ll do it,” Henry reassures her. “Go sit down.” Graham looks amused but nods when Emma looks to him.

 _Honestly_ , she thinks, with fond exasperation. She follows Henry’s orders anyway, because she’s learnt better than to get in Henry’s way when he thinks he’s taking care of her, especially when Graham is backing him up. (A voice that sounds suspiciously like her mother’s points out that when they’re _both_ trying to take care of her, then they probably have a good reason.)

She curls up in front of the television, listening to her fiancé and son in the kitchen rather than watching it. Henry’s merrily chattering away and earning laughter from Graham occasionally. Emma smiles at the sound of Henry exploding into laughter at something Graham says and wonders if she’s going to have to break up a water fight soon.

And then all sound cuts off. Emma jumps to her feet, looking around. She can see Henry and Graham through the doorway, Graham washing the plates and Henry drying them. Their mouths are still moving, and they don’t seem to have noticed anything is wrong.

Emma feels herself go very cold.

“So this is what you abandoned me for,” says Regina, and Emma spins to see her in the corner of the room, examining her nails. “A pretty, domestic life with my son and my Huntsman.”

Emma can see bait when she sees it, but she bristles anyway. “They’re not yours,” she snarls. _Especially_ not Graham. Emma can see how Regina lays her claim to Henry, even if Emma hates it: but Regina has nothing on Graham, _nothing._

“It seems the best you can do if picking up my scraps,” muses Regina.

Emma doesn’t think, just raises her hand and pushes. The magic swirls out from her fingers and slams Regina back against the wall. “They’re no one’s scraps,” she hisses. “They’re people – beautiful, wonderful people.” Regina pushes herself back to her feet, movements slow and painful. Her eyes flit to something behind Emma, and she smirks.

Emma doesn’t risk glancing around, but then she hears Graham demand, “Who are you and what are you doing here?” Henry appears by Emma’s side, peering at Regina with a mixture of curiosity and worry. Emma realises, distantly, that whatever spell Regina cast must have been one way, and that Graham and Henry must have heard Regina being thrown against the wall.

Emma pushes Henry behind her; she doesn’t think Regina would try to physically harm Henry, but she isn’t willing to take any risks.

“A better question would be what _you’re_ doing here, pet,” says Regina, her voice silky. Her eyes slide over to Emma on the last word: the term isn’t going to have any effect on Graham, not without his memories of the other timeline, but Regina knows it’s enough to get under Emma’s skin.

“Get out,” snarls Emma. “Get out of my house.”

“Touchy,” titters Regina. Emma starts to lift her hand again, and then – gone. Regina’s gone, just a quick spell then _poof!_

“Who was she?” asks Henry. Graham meets Emma’s gaze over his head, expression worried. “Is she a villain?”

“Probably,” says Emma. The panic is beginning to recede and she grasps for a plan. “Call my parents and tell them to come here,” she tells Graham. “They’ll need to know.”

“Who are you calling?” asks Graham, as she starts to search her bag for her cell.

Emma pulls it out and turns the screen on. “Hook.”

-

Hook is the last to arrive, and he raises his eyebrows at the sight of the impromptu war council arranged in the living room. “Never thought I’d see the day when I was invited to one of these,” he mutters, gingerly taking a seat next to David.

“Regina was here,” she tells him, and his eyes shoot up to look at her.

“Well, then,” he says, leaning back against his chair and crossing his arms. “I can see the need.”

“What’s going on?” breaks in Snow. “Who’s Regina?”

Emma bites back a bitter smile. Irony was proving to be one of her closest companions in this timeline. “A month ago, I drank some of the water from the wishing well, and it restored something to me. Memories,” she explains. “Memories of another timeline that Zelena changed into this one. In the original timeline, Zelena was abandoned by Cora as a baby, and Cora’s second child became the Evil Queen.”

“And Regina is that Evil Queen?” asks David. “She knows?”

Emma nods. “Zelena would have placed Regina in the life she lived before the change, but left Regina with all her memories, so she would know what she had lost,” she says. “I guess Zelena didn’t account for how crafty Regina can be.”

David places his arm on the table and exhales, eyebrows raised. “Two Evil Queens,” he says. “Can’t we ever have a break?”

“Regina is very cunning, and spent a long time under Rumplestiltskin’s tutelage,” says Hook. “And more over, she knows all of you, while only Emma and I know her. You all have to be on your guard.”

Graham studies Hook. “You remember, too. For how long?”

Hook shrugs. “About the same amount of time as Swan, far as I can tell,” he says. “She knew when I first approached her about it. Thought she might want to change it back, being the Savior and all.”

All eyes turn to Emma and she shifts awkwardly under their scrutiny. “As awful as Zelena can be, she was never as terrible as Regina at the height of her terror. There are dozens of people alive today that wouldn’t be otherwise because I made that decision.”

“Including me,” realises Graham. “She said that what I was doing here should be the question, not what she was doing here,” he explains to David and Snow, but his eyes are still on her.

Emma swallows. “Including you,” she echoes.

There’s a heavy silence around the table as everyone evaluates this. Graham and Emma keep staring at each other. She can’t tell how he feels. She certainly doesn’t know how she would feel if she was told she was dead in the original timeline.

She hopes Henry isn’t listening outside the door. It would be a terrible thing for a child to learn, that the closest thing he has to a father had been murdered in another timeline by the woman who would have been his adoptive mother.

Finally, Graham clears his throat. “We should keep planning,” he says. Emma watches him carefully, but his expression is firm. His death is something they can talk about later; right now, they have to prepare.

“Okay,” says Emma. “Regina’s come back to Storybrooke to discover that I have no plan in restoring the timeline. She’s angry and is going to lash out at me – through the three of you, most likely.” That is aimed at Graham and her parents.

“Not Henry?” checks Snow.

Emma hesitates. “She won’t intentionally harm him – physically,” she adds, thinking of the hurting boy she had first met. “He could be collateral damage, though.” _Collateral damage_ , she thinks, disgusted. But it would hardly be the first time she had endangered him while targeting someone else. While targeting Emma.

Three hours later, their home is once again empty. Emma finds Graham standing in the door to Henry’s bedroom, watching him sleep. He’s curled up into a ball, clutching a pillow. Henry’s definitely sleeping, then – when he fakes it, he always is stretched out.

Emma slides in next to Graham and wraps her arms around him. “Are you okay?” she whispers.

Graham rests his head on her shoulder. “Not sure,” he replies. “I keep looking at Henry and thinking, ‘I could have missed this’.”

Emma closes her eyes and squeezes him. He _had_ missed this, once. “You’re here now,” she says. “I’m not going to let her take you again.” She pulls back slightly so she can rest her hand on his chest, feeling the comforting _thump-thump-thump_ that’s been there ever since they stole the hearts back just after the Curse broke.

Graham breathes in deeply. “Was she like Zelena?”

Emma feels her heart drop at the thought. Graham never deserved what they did to him, but no one ever does. “Yes.”

“Except Regina decided to kill me,” Graham mutters, “while Zelena thought she could keep me enslaved. I don’t know which of them is worse.”

Emma wishes she had an answer for him. His heart keeps beating under her hand. “You’re here with me now,” she says, hoping it was the right thing.

Graham pulls her back into a hug. She buried her face in his shoulder and prays they can stop Regina before she can do any more damage.


End file.
